288 plint's natural history. [Book XXVIII. 



side of the body, and an even number of vowels of the like 

 infirmities on the left. 



(4.) It is said, that if a person takes a stone or other missile 

 •which has slain three living creatures, a man, a boar, and a 

 bear, at three blows, and throws it over the roof of a house 

 in which there is a pregnant woman, her delivery, however 

 difficult, will be instantly accelerated thereby. In such a case, 

 too, a successful result will be rendered all the more probable, 

 if a light infantry lance'' is used, which has been drawn from 

 a man's body without touching the earth; indeed, if it is 

 brought into the house it will be productive of a similar result. 

 In the same way, too, we find it stated in the writings of 

 Orpheus and Archelaiis, that arrows, drawn from a human 

 body without being allowed to touch the ground, and placed 

 beneath the bed, will have all the effect of a philtre ; and, 

 what is even more than this, that it is a cure for epilepsy if 

 the patient eats the flesh of a wild beast killed with an iron 

 weapon with which a human being has been slain. 



Some individuals, too, are possessed of medicinal properties 

 in certain parts of the body ; the thumb of King Pyrrhus, for 

 instance, as already'^- mentioned. At Elis, there used to 

 be shown one of the ribs'^^ of Pelops, which, it was generally 

 asserted, was made of ivory. At the present day even, there 

 are many persons, who from religious motives will never clip 

 the hair growing upon a mole on the face. 



CHAP. 7. PROPERTIES OP THE HUMAN SPITTLE. 



But it is the fasting spittle of a human being, that is, as 

 already '''*■ stated by us, the sovereign preservative against the 

 poison of serpents; while, at the same time, our daily experience 

 may recognize its efficacy and utility,''" in many other respects. 

 We are in the habit of spitting,''*' for instance, as a preservative 

 from epilepsy, or in other words, we repel contagion thereby ; 



^1 "Hasta velitaris." ''^ In B. vii. c. 2. 



" It is the shoulder-blade of Pelops that is generally mentioned in the 

 ancient iMythology, Pliny omits to say of what medicinal virtues it was 

 possessed. ''■* In B. vii. c. 2. 



"'^ It certainly does seem to be possessed of some efficacy for the removal 

 of spots and stains, but for no other purpose probably. 



''^ In some parts of France, the peasants spit in tlie hand when in terror 

 of spectres at night. In our country, prize-fighters spit in the hand before 

 beginning the combat, and costermongers spit on their morning's handsel, 

 or first earned money, for good luck. 



